Natureworks

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20 Nov Bountiful Beauty

I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that Thanksgiving is a week from Thursday. All the signs are there- ridiculous Black Friday advertisements, flyers asking me to shop at 6 pm on Thanksgiving day, truckloads of cut Christmas trees on the highway… yes, the holidays are surely upon us. At Natureworks, we do things a bit differently. First of all, we would NEVER be open on Thanksgiving day. That is a family holiday. Second, we open at the REGULAR time on the Friday after Thanksgiving and we call it GREEN Friday. All you have to do is shop at Natureworks on that day and we will give you a $5 gift card. So simple. We will then enter your name in a drawing to win a $50 gift certificate. The next day is Small Business Saturday, OUR day to celebrate. Read all about how we are making the entire weekend a Small Business Celebration in the article on the left and bring your family and friends to join us.

We are creating our “signature style” of Thanksgiving arrangements starting this week. We use herbs like sage and rosemary, orange winterberries harvested from my yard, dried yarrow and wheat, and other naturalistic embellishments along with fresh flowers and greens such as aromatic sweet myrtle and golden false cypress. New this year, be sure to check out our cornucopia arrangements, an ideal hostess gift as well as a special decorative element for your own home. Cornucopias are called the “horn of plenty” and that is what Thanksgiving is all about. We also offer Mole Hollow dripless candles (locally produced in Massachusetts) to light up your holiday table.

I do believe that we have “egg-sactly” what you are looking for to make your holidays special. These real eggs are imported from Austria. Each one is handpainted. Start a tradition!

Naturally, following Thanksgiving we swing into our Christmas season. The first of our fresh greens have started to arrive this week as we create all-natural cemetary pots and pillows for Thanksgiving weekend. This year we are stocking fraser fir wreaths with deep, dark green needles. The end of November brings bountiful bunches of all kinds of unusual, fresh cut, locally sourced evergreens as well as hand decorated wreaths, hand made swags, and arrangements. We dip all of our cut greens in Wilt-Pruf, an anti-dessicant solution made in CTfrom pine sap. This keeps them fresher longer. It is an extra step that we feel makes all the difference.

With the deep, soaking rain that we all had on Monday, NOW is the perfect time to spray your evergreens with Wilt-Pruf. This is SO important, especially if we have another brutally cold, bitter winter. Applying Wilt-Pruf when there is plenty of water in the leaves is the goal. We want to keep that water in the leaves.

A little birdie told me that you have outdoor twig lights…

I am super excited this year to offer OUTDOOR twig lights. They come with brown or white stems and are available either plug in or battery operated. The battery operated version has a timer setting built into it which makes it so easy to use. Watch for them in our windowboxes and patio pots as well as indoor arrangements of greens and cut flowers. The minute we put these on display, customers started snapping them up. They are a high quality, very special item to light up these dark days.

Got Ice? We did last week and you probably did too! Winter weather swooped into CT so fast and we found ourselves dealing with icy steps and walkways. Luckily, this year we are carrying Natural Alternative Ice Melt! After the shortage last year left many of us out of salt, we researched and found a great product that totally fits with our mission to help you live lightly upon the earth.

Features include:

Melts ice to -16°F

Does not become slippery when wet

20# bag covers 6,000 Square Feet!

Safe for Pets

Non-Toxic to fish, aquatic life and watersheds

Biodegradable

Does not promote algae blooms in rivers, lakes, bays and wetlands

Does not harm lawns, vegetation, hardscapes or cured concrete when used as directed

My husband has refused to use any ice melt products on our property before this came along. Last year I took a bad tumble on our icy steps and was determined to find something he could agree to. Here it is! Natural Alternative Ice Melt comes in 20 lb bags and 9 lb shaker jugs. We are limiting everyone to 3 containers per customer as we only have one pallet available.

Another great way to deal with ice is to melt it with a flame weeder! Besides being the perfect organic weed killer, they can also be used to melt ice patches in the winter time. Flame weeders? Whaat??? These are hand held torches that use a small canister of propane gas. Ignite the switch and voila! You BURN your weeds. I have been using one for years. Think gravel pathways, ground ivy crawling into gardens, you get the idea. As Diane says: “Every woman that walks in here wants one.”There is a coupon in this email for $10 off our flame weeders. Why not give one as a gift? Perhaps this is not the most romantic gift, but it will melt ice, if not their hearts, when they see how much you care!

A dried wreath I made last Saturday

I am officially off the road (my crews are still cleaning up gardens) and if I am not in the office writing this email, you can find me at my design station in the kitchen. I am having so much fun putting on a different hat for a change, making dried wreaths, fresh arrangements, bows, and all sorts of evergreen creations. The shop is beginning to smell amazing, the real deal, that only living evergreen branches crushed underfoot can offer! I hope you can stop in this week and enjoy the beautiful bounty that surrounds us.

See you soon…

P.S.
Have you planted your Amaryllis bulbs yet? Wehave some in bloom already and they are gorgeous!